Wishes
by Christine Writer
Summary: There were so many things Jess wanted to tell Rory. When he's in an accident, will he ever get the chance? 4.19 Last Week Fights, This Week Tights. ONESHOT.


A/N: From "Last Week Fights, This Week Tights."

"Jess." Rory spoke his name, and his heart melted. "I can't. Why can't you understand that? Please, just leave."

"Rory."

"Leave."

"Okay." He conceded, and found the strength to walk away. He sat in his car and cried. He started the car and headed back to New York. He had nowhere else to go. He looked at the picture he had kept in his jacket pocket since he had left Stars Hollow for California. It was of him and Rory. He had been planning to give it to her. He looked up to the road just in time to see a car headed through a stop sign, right at him. Then the world disappeared.

"Rory Gilmore?" The voice on the other end of the line sounded professional.

"This is she." Rory answered. She had packed up the last of her things and had loaded them into her car and U-Haul trailer. She had just closed the door on the truck when her cell phone rang.

"This is Melanie, from New Haven Memorial Hospital. Jesse Mariano was brought in this hour. Your name was on speed dial on his cell phone. We cannot seem to locate family. Would you be able to come to the hospital?"

"Yes, of course." Rory said, and took off for the hospital.

Once Rory was at the hospital, she met with Melanie at the front desk. "Miss Gilmore," Melanie addressed her before Rory could introduce herself.

"Yes?"

"Do you know Jesse Mariano well?"

"Not anymore." Rory shook her head.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just assumed, with your number in his phone and the picture…" Melanie trailed off.

"What picture?"

"This picture." Melanie showed Rory the picture. "Jesse was holding this in his hands when the paramedics rescued him."

Rory's breath caught in her throat and her heart stuttered. Jess had been carrying this snapshot around with him? On the back, he had inscribed something. It was a message to her, written with care, in very tiny handwriting. "Jess was holding this?"

"Yes. He told the paramedics when he came to in the ambulance that they needed to get this picture to you. Then they lost him again."

"Thank you." Rory's eyes filled with tears.

"Do you have contact information for his family?"

"Of course," Rory gave Melanie the number for Luke's Diner. She knew that Liz and T.J. were supposed to have gotten married that afternoon. Luke would know what to do. She asked Melanie for directions to the nearest waiting room to where Jess would be.

"He's still unconscious, so they'll probably move him to the ICU on the third floor when they get him stabilized. He's lucky to be alive."

"Thanks." Rory went to the third floor waiting room just outside the ICU. She called her mother next.

"Hey, honey." Lorelai answered her phone mid-laugh. "What's up? Do you need help getting your stuff home from school?"

"I don't know. I'm at the hospital in New Haven."

"Are you okay?" Lorelai's heart jumped into her throat.

"Of course I am." Rory assured her mother. "Jess is here."

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"He came to Yale and then I told him some stuff, and then he left. I asked him to, Mom. I made him leave. He got into an accident, and…I'm so scared, Mom. Did the hospital call Luke?"

"He just went back to the diner to answer a call. Caesar asked him to."

"That's probably the hospital. I gave them his number."

"Okay. He and I will both be on our way as soon as we can."

"Okay."

"Do you need anything else? What about your car and the U-Haul? Are they okay at your school overnight? It's late."

"I don't know. I guess they'll be okay, if they don't check the student lot tonight."

"Don't worry about it. We'll ask Sookie to drive your car home and Jackson can tow the U-Haul."

"Thank them for me, Mom." Rory held it together until she had hung up with her mother. Then she flipped the photograph over again to read the message. It was dated three months after he had left for California.

_Dear Rory,_

_I'm sorry that I missed your prom. I wish we could have gone to the prom with Lane and Dave. I'm sorry that I wasn't there. I hope you went anyway. I was a jerk to you, just leaving like that. I could tell you some excuse, but you know me. I can't lie to you._

_Now, I have to tell you the truth about the things I didn't tell you. I did fail out of school. I wasn't going to graduate. I couldn't stand the idea of another year in high school, so I bailed. The time I came to your grandparents' house with the black eye, it wasn't a fight with anyone or a mishap during a football toss. Please don't laugh. It was because I was reading on Larson's dock, and this swan beaked me in the eye. Stop laughing. I know you're laughing at me._

Rory wasn't laughing now. She might have been, had the situation in which she had received this note been different.

_I lied because I didn't want you to laugh at the truth. I should have told you. I felt stupid for being attacked by a creature that has a ballet named after it._

_This next part is also true: I love you. I love you so much, and I wanted your life to be better than the one I could offer you, so I left. I know now how that hurt you. You are probably back from Europe by now, getting ready to start your first year at Yale._

_I wish you all the best, Rory, I really do, because that's what you deserve. I will always love you. - Jess _

She slipped the photo into her pocket and took the elevator to the ICU. They were just bringing Jess to his room when she turned the corner. A nurse signed her through as his girlfriend, because there was no family there. Rory felt guilty claiming a role she had thrown away, but she knew Jess wouldn't mind. She sat on a chair next to his bed and slipped her hand into his.

"I love you, too, Jess. Why didn't you give this to me? I'm sorry that you felt like you had to run away after you told me you love me." All of these feelings came spilling out of her lips, and she wished that he was awake to witness them.

Suddenly, he stirred, and winced as the full force of the accident hit him like a hammer. He tried to open his eyes. Rory came into focus, a little blurry at first, but as he blinked, she didn't go away. He wasn't dreaming-she was really there!

"Hey." she grinned, and gave his hand a small squeeze. He cracked a smile, and tried to sit up. As broken ribs pressed together, he gasped in pain and relaxed back into bed.

"Rory." he whispered.

"I'm right here."

"I love you."

"I love you, too, Jess."

"Do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Kiss me."

"It'll hurt you. You're all stitched up."

"Not as much as I'll hurt if you don't." he leaned forward again, and she pushed him back gently. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, bruised and stitched as they were.

"I got your note."

"Note?" he looked confused, and panic gripped her for a moment. "Oh, the photo."

"Thank you for everything you said." she said, relieved that he remembered.

"You're welcome. I meant every word of it."

"You really got beaked by a swan?"

"Yes."

"And you waited this long to tell me?" she laughed, and it was a welcome sound to his ears.

"I'm so glad you're not going to tease me about it." he said, with just a drop of sarcasm.

"You're lucky I'm so nice. My mom will, but I'm not going to."

"Your mom will?" he asked. "Does that mean..."

"It's too good a story to keep it to myself!" she grinned, and kissed him again. He groaned, but was inwardly so glad to have Rory back, he would take any teasing in the world.


End file.
